Image quality (IQ) is an important aspect of medical images. Without appropriate and satisfactory IQ, a radiologist cannot perform a reliable diagnosis using medical images. Unfortunately, some medical images may lack adequate diagnostic IQ. Causes of inadequate IQ include less than optimal acquisition parameters, patient positioning and/or image processing parameters. When such causes interfere with IQ, the radiologist may retake the images or try to reprocess the medical image using different image processing parameters until satisfactory IQ is attained.
Radiologists often consult with medical imaging engineers or IQ consultants in the analysis of medical IQ. In one such scenario of IQ consultation, a radiologist at a medical imaging facility contacts the manufacturer of the medical imaging device about inadequate IQ of one or more medical images generated by the medical imaging device. In response, the manufacturer dispatches a field engineer to the site of the medical imaging facility. The field engineer copies the medical images to a compact disk read only memory (CDROM) and sends or brings the CDROM to an IQ expert at another location, usually at a location of the manufacturer. The IQ expert examines the images on the CDROM, and communicates suggestions on changes in the acquisition parameters, patient positioning or image processing parameters.
In another consultation scenario, the radiologist at the medical imaging facility contacts the manufacturer of the medical imaging device about inadequate IQ of one or more medical images generated by the medical imaging device. In response, the manufacturer dispatches the field engineer to the site of the medical imaging facility. The field engineer contacts the manufacturer and possibly a customer support engineer at the manufacturer. In response the IQ expert and/or the customer support engineer at the manufacturer remotely accesses the images stored in an image acquisition workstation of the medical imaging device through a computer communicating over communication lines to the medical facility. The remote access is commonly referred to as insite connectivity. Thereafter, the IQ expert examines the images remotely, and communicates suggestions on changes in the acquisition parameters, patient positioning and/or image processing parameters to the medical facility.
Unfortunately, the above process of medical IQ consultation is costly and slow. The above process requires on-site visits by field engineers that cost at least hundreds of dollars in travel and personnel cost to the manufacturer, and practically speaking, at least a few hours will lapse before the medical facility will receive suggestions on changes in the acquisition parameters, patient positioning and/or image processing parameters. Often, this time delay requires a return trip by the patient to the medical facility, which further delays to acquisition of medical images with diagnostic quality.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a system of IQ consultation that reduces the cost of the consultation to the manufacturer of the medical imaging device. There is also a need for a system of IQ consultation that reduces the amount of time required to communicate suggestions on changes in the acquisition parameters, patient positioning and/or image processing parameters, thus increasing the opportunity to finalize or complete the imaging before the patient leaves the medical facility, which in turn decreases the amount of time to obtain a image of medical diagnostic quality.